Izrael
A Hebrew name meaning "struggles with God" or "one who strives with God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,186 living Americans carry the first name Izrael. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Izrael today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Izrael births was 2023 (95 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Izrael. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Izrael with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Izrael is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 289,000 Americans
Peak year
2023
95 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,571
Tracked since 1994
Census
Izrael in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 677 people with the first name Izrael, which placed it at #16,602 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,602
National first-name rank
People counted
677
677 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
68.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Izrael
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Izrael is Hispanic at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and White (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Izrael described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Izrael at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino68.7% · 465
- Black or African American11.8% · 80
- White10.8% · 73
- Two or more races4.6% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Izrael
Out of the 1,196 babies given the name Izrael since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Izrael as a male name
- Ranked #2,571 in 2024
- 52 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (90 births)
Izrael as a female name
- Ranked #16,130 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2017 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Izrael leans strongly male. 655 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 21 female bearers (3.1%).
Popularity
Izrael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Izrael from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 524 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Izrael remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Izrael by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Izrael during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Izraels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Izrael, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Izrael
The given name Izrael originates from the Hebrew language, with its roots tracing back to ancient times in the Middle East. The name is derived from the biblical Hebrew words "Yisra'el," meaning "one who struggles with God" or "God contends." It is closely associated with the biblical patriarch Jacob, who was later renamed Israel after wrestling with an angel.
The name Izrael has a rich history within the Judeo-Christian tradition and has been mentioned numerous times in religious scriptures such as the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Christian Bible. It is the name given to the ancient Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, and is deeply intertwined with the history and culture of the Jewish people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Izrael can be found in the Book of Genesis, which recounts the story of Jacob's renaming. Over the centuries, the name has been borne by numerous prominent figures across various cultures and religions.
Among the notable individuals named Izrael throughout history are:
1. Izrael Baal Shem Tov (c. 1698-1760), the founder of the Hasidic Jewish movement.
2. Izrael Poznański (1833-1900), a Polish-Jewish industrialist and philanthropist.
3. Izrael Matveyevich Poznanski, a Russian-Jewish architect active in the late 19th century.
4. Izrael Shahak (1933-2001), an Israeli writer and civil rights activist.
5. Izrael Shtern (1917-1991), a Soviet-Russian painter and artist.
While the name Izrael has its roots in ancient Hebrew, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures over time, with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. Nevertheless, the name continues to carry a rich historical and cultural significance, particularly within the Jewish tradition, serving as a reminder of the enduring legacy of the biblical narrative.
People
Izrael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Izrael as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Izrael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Izrael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Izrael going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 289,000 US residents.
Is Izrael a common name?
We classify Izrael as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,196 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Izrael most popular?
The single biggest year for Izrael was 2023, when 95 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Izrael is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Izrael in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 677 people with the name Izrael, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,602 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Izrael in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Izrael?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Izrael leans strongly male. 655 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 21 female bearers (3.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Izrael?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Izrael is Hispanic at 68.7%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and White (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Izrael most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Izrael in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.7% (465 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Izrael in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Izrael a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Izrael in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Izrael still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Izrael in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Izrael can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Izrael?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Izrael at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.